Deadly Desire
by xxzahra01xx
Summary: Oliver Queen has come back and managed to survive his battle against Ra's al Guhl but now he faces another battle. Saving the woman he loves from herself. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

It had been months since Oliver Queen had fought to the death with Ra's al Guhl and suffered his dreadful fate. He was tired, and although his experience was something completely different from that of his previous 5 years away from Starling City, he was still just as physically and emotionally exhausted as he had been then. He stumbled his way down the streets of the familiar city he once called home keeping his head low trying to not draw any attention. As he finally reached his location he walked up the two flights of stairs till her reached the apartment door he had been looking for.

Lyla and John had just woken up to one of Sara's late night crying spells. It had been months since Oliver's disappearance yet Diggle still had a hard time coping as he sometimes believed he could've done something to stop Oliver or help him. This was a man he pledged his life to and swore he would rather die than let him fight alone so why did he? He had been asking himself these questions for months while trying his best to be strong for everyone around him, his family, Roy, Thea, and Felicity. He was coming up with lies left and right to explain Oliver's disappearance but he and the rest of his team knew what Oliver's fate had become. Everyone except for Felicity. He had watched a woman he once thought was so strong fall to pieces. He thought he could be there for her and over time she isolated herself in more ways than one. He found her a couple times wandering the glades looking to get herself into trouble. He would ping her cellphone in the foundry only to find she would be at Oliver's second warehouse space that he had kept as a backup in case the foundry became compromised. He would check her location in the mornings and come to find she had spent her nights there. He knew she felt guilty that she hadn't forced Oliver to embrace his humanity and her, but Diggle didn't know how to explain to her that Oliver loved her and that may have been the only thing he was sure of. He didn't know how to save Felicity and in all honesty he wasn't sure anyone could. He sat on the couch and Lyla went back to sleep. He held the necklace Oliver had made Sara shortly before she was born.

"Why'd you have to go off on a suicide mission, man?' Dig said to himself.

Just as he was about to get up and try to go to sleep he heard a knock at the door. It was almost 3 am, who could possibly be knocking at the door, he thought. He looked through the peephole and saw a man in a hood and then heard a faint knock again. He ran to the bedroom and grabbed a gun from her night stand and told Lyla to watch the baby in their room. He slowly opened the door and in a swift motion as soon as he raised his gun he found himself on his back on the floor which the hooded main kneeling over him.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Dig screamed, while struggling to break free of his grasp.

"Seriously? Is this how you greet your partner?" the hooded man replied and the proceeded to take off his hood.

"Oh my god. Oliver? You're alive?'

"As alive as I can be. But I'm exhausted and I can't go to a hospital and I need somewhere to rest. I would've gone to the foundry but I couldn't get in." Oliver said with a look of confusion on his face.

"Oh yeah, you can thank Felicity for that. She changed the lock system on the doors so she and I are the only ones who can get it right now. Don't worry, I will take you there tomorrow."

Oliver's interest peaked at the mention of Felicity's name but John didn't know how to explain to him everything that had happened and how hard she had taken his "death."

"Yeah man, about that, you need to know that Felicity isn't the same girl you left here."

"John, what happened?" Oliver said sternly with a hint of worry in his voice.

"It's nothing that can't wait till tomorrow. C'mon Oliver get some sleep. We'll deal with the rest of your problems tomorrow. I promise they'll still be there."

Oliver understood what Diggle was saying but he couldn't help but wonder what had happened since he had battled Ra's al Guhl. But he knew that he couldn't do anything in his state. He slept on the couch and he and Diggle both agreed they'd answer each other's questions the next day.

"It's good to have you back Oliver."

"Well it's good to be home, goodnight John. Thank you for this" Oliver replied with a slight smile.

He had one thought on his mind as he drifted to sleep which was that he couldn't wait to see the woman he loves, Felicity Smoak.

~The Glades~

Felicity was in the front seat of her car parked outside of Verdant. She saw a woman walk down the alley and followed. After taking a few turns she was greeted by a bouncer and went inside to a VIP area where she met a woman.

"Please sit" Felicity insisted.

"I can't I'm afraid. I'm only here to make sure there are no surprises when he arrives" the mysterious woman asserted. "I'm afraid any surprises and I assure you you'll regret it.

"Good thing I have made my intentions clear. Now where is he?" Felicity said sternly.

Felicity wasn't the same girl who stayed behind her computer. She was different and she was tired of everyone remarking on it. She was tough and was determined to break away from everyone she had once been close to. It was too painful of a reminder without Oliver around.

"It's okay sweetheart. I'm here and I have everything you could possibly want"

Felicity turned around to be face to face with Vertigo, the man responsible for blowing up her date with Oliver.

"It took you long enough" Felicity stammered.

"Maybe next time you'll be quicker busting me out of jail, or should I say hacking me out of jail. You're a smart one which is the only reason why I'm giving you what you want and not putting a bullet in your head" Vertigo said as he shut the door to the room they were in and opened his briefcase which revealed bags and bags filled with red pills. "The new Vertigo drug, just what you want. New and extremely improved might I add. Now that the Arrow isn't in my way I put a lot of thought into this new batch. It had to be something exciting and captivating, something that my clientele couldn't resist and I might say I didn't expect that you would be reaching out to me."

"Well I had hacked into Iron Height's system and you'd imagine my surprise when I saw activity in your record. Trying to sell your product to a guard? Real clever. But that's not the point. Has the change really been made?" Felicity asked this question with such dedication.

"Well I don't see why you would doubt me? Half of this supply is yours once you clear my record from the system. Unless you don't want it. Unless you don't want to experience the high of your life. It was quite a brilliant change might I add, an idea that stemmed from my time in prison. Instead of having a drug that made you see your worst fear, why not create a pill that made you see what or who you desired most? I needed something to make my product worth buying and without the arrow who is going to stop me?"

Felicity started typing away on her computer. At this point she had hacked into so many systems that it had become easy to her.

"No one is going to stop you," Felicity said proudly, "because as of right now you don't exist and the one person who could've stopped you? Well he's dead."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Here is chapter 2. I'm sorry about the first problems I had with the coding on chapter 1. Anyways this is slightly shorter but I plan on updating frequently so don't kill me. Please please please review or post ideas and tell me your likes AND dislikes. I want to make this a good story and the more you review and help me out the more I'll post. Love you all **

**Xoxo**

**-Z**

Felicity had spent 3 months trying her hardest to cope with Oliver's death. She went to the second foundry that Oliver had set up in case the main one was compromised. She remembered him telling her and John that this was where he went when he needed to really be alone and even though he was gone this was the only place she felt close to him. There was a darkness in her now. Something so deep within that she couldn't imagine a world where she would be the same Felicity she once was. She hated herself but she also hated him. She had been so distraught over Oliver that she couldn't handle loving him anymore. She settled for the next best thing. Hate. She hated him for pulling her into this arrow mess, she hated him for always protecting her, she hated him for pulling away after their date and saying he couldn't be with her, she hated him for telling her he loved her, but most of all, she hated him for promising her that she'd never lose him. She sat down, leaning against the same pillar Dig and she had found Oliver sitting back when Slade had come back.

"I don't know what I'm doing anymore Oliver," she started to talk into space. She found comfort in knowing that he was probably, somehow, listening to her. "I don't know how to love, hate, and miss you at the same time. I tried to move on, I really did. But I'm a wreck and everyone sees it. I tried to bury myself in work but Ray kept making me take time off and refused to let me handle my grief that way. Something about how he's done the same thing before and it didn't help him. I've gone to the foundry a few times, mainly to make sure everything is still the way you left it. I know this isn't what you want but you know what?" Felicity's voice began to increase in volume till she was yelling at the space around her, "I'm done caring about what you want! You wanted to keep me safe by not being with me, you wanted me to just except that we couldn't be together all because why? Because you couldn't handle being the arrow and Oliver Queen? You weren't losing your humanity Oliver! And I wish you could've realized that."

At this point Felicity was yelling and crying and she was tired of it. She pulled out her purse and the small bag of red pills in the side pocket. She carefully downed one and just sat in the dark waiting. Waiting to get a glimpse or one more moment with the man she loved.

"I would give anything to have one more moment with you, Oliver. That's how much I love you."

* * *

Oliver woke up drenched in sweat, his heart racing. He had a nightmare, or more like a memory of being stabbed and pushing off that cliff during his battle with Ra's. Diggle came out of his room and reassured Oliver that everything would be okay. He looked at the time. It was 8 am. Not an unreasonable time to begin his day, if only he knew where to start. He knew he wanted to see Felicity but Oliver had never been good at saying how he felt and he knew how gut wrenching seeing her again would be. But Diggle kept saying she wasn't the same girl he left behind so he had no idea what to expect.

"Do you want some coffee Oliver?" Lyla asked.

"Uhm," Oliver was distracted, "yeah that sounds great."

"Man, have I missed you. Let's just get some coffee and food into us and I'll take you to the foundry," Dig said. He was happy to have Oliver back. Shocked in fact because he really had thought they lost him. He had so many questions but he was more nervous than anything. Felicity had gone over the edge and him and Roy had tried to help her but nothing worked. She was smarter than them by far so that worked in her advantage.

Oliver and Diggle finished their breakfast and left the apartment. While they were in the car Oliver had a sudden thought.

"Dig, what did you guys tell Thea?" Oliver knew this would be a good one.

"Yeah I hope you're ready to talk about the Andes because we told her you were backpacking in those mountains. We thought that eventually with enough time, once we knew you were actually gone, we could tell her there had been an accident and you never returned. That way she'd have to knowledge of the league or who you were."

"Smart." Oliver had nothing left in him. He didn't have any questions, he just wanted to see everything for himself.

They walked down the stairs of the foundry. Oliver took everything in. Nothing had changed one bit. He looked around at his arrows, his suit, sat down and took it all in. He saw one change though, he noticed there was a bed in a corner. _Felicity._ He knew she was the only one who was capable of doing that.

"Dig. Where is she?," Oliver asserted.

"Uhm, give me one second. I used to track her by her cellphone all the time so let me see where she is. _Wait a second_, that can't be right" Diggle was so confused. "The map is showing that she is here Oliver. Hold on let me call her. Maybe she is upstairs."

Oliver pulled up the cameras to Verdant. There was no sign of her upstairs.

"She isn't up there John!"

John started calling her phone and they heard a faint vibrate. The followed it all the way to the fern Felicity had once got Oliver. And there right next to it was a note and Felicity's phone. Oliver opened the note which read,

_ Dig and Roy,_

_ Stop tracking me using my phone. If I want to talk I'll find you guys._

_ I'd say I love you but knowing my luck I'd probably lose you two _

_ if that was the case. I'm sorry it had to be this way._

_ -F_

"I told you she wasn't the same girl you left behind."

"We have to find her John" Oliver said sternly. "I have to fix this"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Here is chapter 3! Sorry to be a total pain in the butt but I'm not going to post another chapter until I get some more feedback. Love you all.**

Felicity was there sitting on the floor looking at an old newspaper article that had Oliver's picture.

"Looks like someone misses me"

She knew that voice and turned her head so quickly till she saw him.

"I never thought I'd see you again" she cried.

"Felicity, I'm always going to be with you. I'm always going to protect you. Even when you can't see me," Oliver reassured her.

In that moment she realized the pills had taken effect. She knew this wasn't the man she loved. This was her memory of him. But she had spent months thinking about everything she'd be willing to give up in order to see him one more time and here they were.

"I don't know what to do Oliver. I'm so mad at you and-"

He cut her off, "—hey. Stop. I'm here. But Felicity you know this isn't a good idea. What you are doing is dangerous. I fought so hard to keep you safe. You need to stop this."

"Listen, you aren't real. You can't be my moral compass now. Just talk to me okay? I just need to hear your voice again."

"What do you want to talk about? We've already exhausted every topic of conversation remember?"

She laughed thinking back to their first date. He didn't realize it but that was the moment when she saw their future. Or at least their possibility of a future. Even if he didn't know it yet, she knew for the both of them.

"Hows work?" he asked.

"I wouldn't know. Ray refuses to let me back yet. He keeps talking about when he lost his fiancée and I just don't know what to say anymore to convince people they don't need to baby me or tell me how to feel. I wish I didn't tell him you were probably dead. He is the only one outside of Dig, Roy, and I that knows. He just knew something was wrong with me." She yawned after that last rant. She wanted nothing more than to keep talking to Oliver but she was exhausted.

"You're tired. When was the last time you slept?"

"I'm not. I'm fine. I want to keep talking," she pleaded with him.

"We can keep talking and lay down at the same time" he seemed so real to her.

She had a couple blankets that she laid out. He sat next to her and she layed down and continued to talk about how the past few months had been. She talked about Thea and Malcom and how she had been trying to keep an eye on them. She even told him about how Diggle finally took Sara into the foundry. As she kept talking her eyes became heavy.

"No, no, no-"she was trying so hard to stay awake.

"Hey you need to sleep. Felicity you can't keep taking these pills. I love you, you know that. Please stop this. I'm always going to be with you."

She shut her eyes and dozed off. This was the first time she had fallen asleep in a few days. She had her rough patches when she couldn't sleep because she would have nightmares of Oliver dying or something along those lines. She got so cold that even the two blankets over her couldn't keep her from shivering. She knew this was one of the potential high risk side effects of the new Vertigo she had taken but she had loved every minute she had spent with Oliver. She needed to see him again. Even if it consumed her.

* * *

Diggle had left Oliver in the foundry and told him the new codes to get in. Lyla had called and needed John to watch Sara so she could go in to A.R.G.U.S. Oliver didn't know what was going on with Felicity or what to expect or even what to do. He understood that his disappearance must have been hard on her but he never thought she would lose herself because of him. She kissed Ray, he was so sure she had moved on and had given up on waiting for him. He just couldn't wrap his head around any of it. He took a shower and changed into a new pair of clothes. He stood in front of the mirror and stared at the man in front of him. So much had happened in his life, he didn't think he'd ever be able to let someone in and explain his story until he met Felicity. He realized he couldn't find her on his own and reached for the phone Felicity had left behind. He went through her contacts till her found the one he was looking for.

"Hey, it's me. Yes I am alive. Well now that we've gotten that settled, I need a favor. So you'll meet me at the foundry?" Oliver didn't expect this to be so difficult. Why was this happening? "Okay see you soon. Oh and by the way thanks Barry."

* * *

Felicity woke up the next morning. Her head was pounding, she felt nauseous. She knew this was all because of the drug. It had so many risks that she was willing to overlook because of the one thing it allowed her to see. She walked over to the table and took a few more pills. She decided to be productive and go home and take a shower. She grabbed her car keys and reached for her purse which tumbled to the floor. She grabbed as much as she could before she stumbled away not realizing the red pill she left on the ground. She got in the car and started driving home.

"We need to stop meeting like this"

She smiled, "or what? What are you going to do? I have a question."

"Go ahead shoot."

"Did you ever think about our future?" she was scared when she asked him this question.

"I started to. I wasn't sure where we'd go when I saw you and Ray kissing and-"

"-wait! You saw that? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"You know why Felicity"

"Because you wanted me to be happy," she sighed.

She knew all of this wasn't real. But she was addicted. She needed him and he didn't even know how much. She arrived at her apartment and saw her phone had 30 voicemails. She played the oldest one

"_Felicity its John. Just checking in. Shoot me a text or a phone call so I know you're okay."_

She deleted the rest knowing they were all the same. She remembered when Oliver left and they became worried because he hadn't come back yet. She sat by her phone every night but now she just wanted to cut herself off from the world.

"You should call him back"

"and you should stop telling me what to do. For my own memory you really are a pain in my ass" she laughed as she started a pot of coffee.

"I just care Felicity. Nice Robin hood poster by the way"

"Thanks. I guess I'm just into that sort of thing."

She went to take a shower. The water felt great. She could feel how wiped out her body was since she started to take the Vertigo but she knew she couldn't stop. She spent 20 minutes sitting in the shower crying. It was the only place she allowed herself to really sob because it was her private place. There was something about the water that soothed her. She got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself and sat on the couch only to pass out and succumb to the darkness around her. Felicity Smoak had no idea what she had gotten herself into.

* * *

Barry ran over to the foundry and hugged Oliver.

"It's so good to see you Oliver. I have so many questions like-"

"-Barry!" Oliver interrupted, "I'll answer all your questions but I need a favor. Felicity, well she seems to not want to be found and she needs to know I'm alive"

"Oh yeah, Caitlin has been trying to get through to her but Felicity stopped answering our calls about a month ago."

"Well I need to know as much as I can about where she has been and who she has been talking to, anything that you can get off of these computers would be great."

"Yeah its no problem" Barry sprinted to the computers and with his speed was able to produce answers for Oliver in a matter of minutes.

"Shes so smart. She's cleared any memory on this drive. The only thing I can do is track her phone's previous locations within in the past few months."

"That may be all I need. I need to know her most frequented location."

"It appears to be a random warehouse." Barry looked at the map confused. He didnt know why Felicity would be putting herself through this.

"That' not a random warehouse. I know where she is." Oliver smiled to himself as he realized Felicity was at his secondary foundry.

Oliver grabbed his coat.

"Barry? I hate to ask this but do you mind helping me on the computer end for a while until I can find her?"

"Of course, I'll go back home but call me if you need anything and I can do it all from over there."

"Thanks," Oliver stormed upstairs and couldn't wait to be reunited with Felicity.


	4. Chapter 4

**HEY GUYS! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! Keep 'em coming plz! Again if you have any suggestions about storylines or anything feel free to let me know! i'm always up for ideas! Hope you guys are alive still while we don't have arrow. We'll survive this together. Love you babes**

**xoxo**

**-z**

Felicity woke up on her couch in nothing but her towel. Realizing she had blacked out she was furious. She had put so much on the line for these pills and if it meant seeing Oliver she wouldn't think twice about but she wanted to be able to stay awake long enough to have a full conversation with him. She went to her room and put on some clothes, grabbed her purse and ran out. As soon as she got in the car she reached the cellphone she had newly purchased after discovering that Diggle and Roy had been tracking her with her previous one.

"Hey it's me. I need to meet with him," she spoke sternly to the person on the phone.

"Well I'm sorry. He doesn't just like to see everyone and as far as the world knows he doesn't even exist anymore. Staying discreet is his number one priority at the moment," the woman on the other end responded.

"Well tell him that unless he wants to end up on America's most wanted list he'll make time," Felicity hung up. She had a pit in her stomach and couldn't tell if it was because she hadn't been eating or because of the pills. She turned on the ignition and got a text with gps coordinates.

* * *

Oliver arrived at the warehouse. He hesistated walking inside. All he ever wanted was for Felicity to be happy and as much as he wanted to be with her this was proof enough of how bad things could get. The life he had chosen was a dangerous one and something could go wrong at any point. He never wanted Felicity to feel like this and it was killing him that she had been putting herself through hell for him for the past few months. He couldn't handle the suspense anymore and walked in. The place looked like nothing he recognized. The structure was the same but you could tell someone had been down there. There were blankets on the ground and some lamps.

"Felicity, what has happened to you," Oliver mumbled to himself.

He got a call right as he was starting to take everything in. The caller ID read _Roy_.

"Hey so I heard you were back from the dead," Roy said on the other end.

"It's nice to talk to you too. I'm just looking at some stuff and re-familiarizing myself with some places but want to meet in the foundry later? I told Dig I'd meet him around then and then maybe we could talk about where we go from here."

"Yeah sounds good. Oh and Oliver?"

"Yes Roy?"

"Thanks for not abandoning me in the end."

"Never," and with that Oliver ended the call.

Oliver continued to inspect his surroundings. Felicity must have spent several nights down here but even taking the grief into account something didn't feel right to him. The old Oliver might've just ignored his gut feeling but with the experience he had, he knew better than to just ignore a feeling. He continued to search around. Dig was right, Felicity clearly wasn't the same person he left behind. He began to walk towards the door when something red caught his eye behind one of the table legs. He bent down and knew whatever he was holding probably wasn't just an Advil.

Felicity pulled up to the bar that the GPS coordinates led her to. She walked in and took a seat at the bar. She was offered a drink and settled with a glass of wine. As she waited not really sure what or who she was looking for she felt someone take a seat next to her.

"Follow me," the gentleman who was significantly larger in height and weight said to her.

In her head she kept reminding herself of the pepper spray she kept in her purse. A few months ago she felt safe because she knew Oliver was always a phone call away or he would track her but now she had no real sense of security. She was led into a room in the back face to face once again with Vertigo.

"Well hello . To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"The side effects of the drug. It's putting me an almost paralyzed state once the effects start to wear off. I need that to stop."

"Well I'm sorry that you feel like my product isn't everything you wanted. Maybe you should take up your concerns with the police?" Vertigo said sarcastically.

"Stop playing games with me. We had a deal," Felicity said unnerved. The old Felicity would've been concerned for her safety and would've started to get worried. It's wasn't that she had a death wish, she just didn't care anymore about things that she used to. _Her light had faded._

"You know there was one effect of the drug I failed to mention to you Felicity," Vertigo stood up and began to pace around her, "the new batch of Vertigo makes you more susceptible to suggestion when reacted with another substance."

Before Felicity could even comprehend the information being thrown at her she felt a sharp pain from a needle slam into her neck and just like that the light faded to black.

* * *

Oliver hurried down the stairs of the foundry where he came face to face with Roy and Diggle bickering about their next mission.

"Look before you guys say anything. Roy I appreciate how hard you've worked since I've been gone and for now I want you to keep doing what you're doing. My head is all over the place and my priority right now isn't being the arrow. As soon as I figure out everything I need to we can all have a discussion about where we go forward from here but for now this is what I want."

Roy just stared in shock, "Are you done now?"

Oliver smiled, "Yeah I think so and it's good to see you," Oliver's mood shifted, "look I need to have Barry and STAR labs do an analysis on this." Oliver showed them the small red pill from earlier, "I found it on the floor of the other warehouse and I wonder what kind of drug this could be that Felicity is messing around with."

"Wait we've seen this before Roy," Dig managed to get Roy's full attention.

"Yeah Oliver. This really isn't good." Dig and Roy both sat in silence neither one wanting to say a word.

"Would someone like to just tell me what is going on? Guys what is this?" Oliver became frustrated.

"Well while you were gone I guess you could say I took over where you left off. There were some comments here and there about the change from green to red but I've always like red and—"

Oliver interrupted Roy, "and the point of this story? Other than to tell me your favorite color."

"Well like I would've said if you let me finish, there have been a few cases of teens getting some drug that has been making people hallucinate. It's a red pill and there have been multiple deaths just from the side effects and multiple from people hallucinating things and just walking in the middle of the road. It's awful. But when we heard about these cases we started to remember the similarities between this case and Vertigo."

Oliver interrupted Roy, "Yeah but I captured Vertigo and his drug made you see your worst fear so it can't be him."

"Oliver when Roy told me his suspicions I called Lance who told me that according to Vertigo's record he is clean and they released him. A few days later we couldn't even find his file anymore. It was like he disappeared. We talked to the families of some of the victims that we knew about and they said that the kids were all hallucinating loved ones before they passed," Dig hated telling Oliver someone he put away was still around.

"Wait so are you saying that this drug supposedly makes people see loved ones that are gone?" Oliver questioned.

"Yeah I think so," Roy could see the gears in Oliver's head turning but he didn't know where he was going with it, "where's your head at?"

"Well who would be capable of erasing someone's _digital_ records" Oliver asked already knowing the answer. I mean the pill he found was evidence enough of what was going on.

In that moment Diggle and Roy began to put the pieces together. Oliver walked over to the case that held his green Arrow suit.

"I guess it's time to suit up."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay on a update. I had some writers block so I rewatched some awesome olicity episodes to remember why I fell in love with those two! Anyways you guys know the deal. Comment, rate, review, and then I'll post another update. Seriously guys. I hate to be a jerk about this but plz plz plz comment and i say that with love. I finally have an idea for where I want to take this fanfic so I'm really excited for you guys to read it!**

**xoxo**

**-z**

Felicity began to wake up. It took her eyes a few moments to adjust to the different setting from the last one she remembered being in. Her neck was throbbing and her head was racing trying to piece together where she was and what was going on. She tried to reach for her neck only to realize her hands were restrained. She looked around and there was no one around. She immediately started looked for some way out. She should've known that the path she was going down wasn't going to end well for her.

"HELLO?" she screamed.

_Ugh, if only I had kept my old phone so Roy and Dig could track me_, she thought as she stared at her new phone laying on a table a few feet away from where she was being restrained. She kept struggling but the ropes were ripping into her wrists and the Vertigo hangover mixed with the pain wasn't doing her any good. She knew she should probably be saving her strength.

Felicity kept her voice at a steady scream, "Vertigo! Let me out of here."

Her head was pounding. She knew it was a side effect of coming off of the Vertigo. She needed more. If only Oliver was there she kept thinking. He always found a way to save her even when she didn't think she needed protecting. She heard the steel door open and footsteps approaching from behind.

"Nice to see you awake Felicity," Vertigo came into her line of sight with a syringe.

"I'm guessing that's not an energy drink" Felicity mumbled to herself.

"How are the headaches? Getting worse I imagine," Vertigo took another step toward Felicity as she wrestled to get out of her restraints, "C'mon Felicity. I'm just trying to help you. In here I have a more purified form of my new Vertigo. It should get rid of those pesky side effects I imagine you're experiencing at the moment."

"What's the catch? You know I'll take the Vertigo, so why bother restraining me?"

"Well you see. I was going to leave you alone but when you demanded that we meet you presented me with the perfect opportunity to test out one of my new products."

"So you're using me as a lab rat?"

"Of course not. If this is successful then you'll be a loyal follower of mine. Someone who I'll be proud to have on my side and on my team. You see once I give you the increased dose of Vertigo, all I have to do is inject a second serum that I've been working on for months now. The combination makes you more susceptible to suggestion and eventually I will have your brain programmed to be loyal to me. No more trying to double cross me. And your skills and your beauty would be such an asset to my team if I'm being completely honest. So think of this as a huge compliment."

"Stop! Don't do this! I didn't agree to this!" Felicity began to cry and scream and fight. This wasn't what she wanted.

"Don't worry sweetheart. You won't even remember this conversation."

Vertigo approached her and with one swift motion the Vertigo was injected into her neck.

* * *

Oliver, Roy, and Dig took to the streets. Roy apparently knew of a small building in the Glades where one of Vertigo's most loyal followers was supposedly residing. Roy and Diggle checked the perimeter.

Roy spoke into the comm, "There are two guards out front, and everything else is secure."

"Dig? You and Roy handle the two out front and I'll go in." Oliver gave his orders and waited till Roy and Dig had restrained the two guards out front. He hesitated going in. It had been months since he had suited up and he didn't know if he would again. He though it was something that he would handle when the time came and assumed he would get Felicity's advice on the matter. _Felicty._ That's who he was doing this for and in that moment he didn't hesitate and charged inside.

With an arrow pointed directly at the man's head Oliver began to speak sternly, "Where is Vertigo?"

"Woah I thought you were dead. I don't know," and with a swift motion he reached for the gun in his belt which Oliver promptly shot an arrow and the gun shot out of his hand. He had another arrow in position within seconds.

"Don't make me ask you again"

The man smiled. "Vertigo will be happy to know you're alive but you aren't going to find out anything from me."

"Then you can send him a message. Tell him the next time he sees me he'll wish I put an arrow in him that last time we saw each other and if he touches Felicity I _will not_ hesitate to put an arrow in him."

Oliver knocked him out with one punch.

"Roy? Diggle? I need you guys inside."

John and Roy walked in the house with their weapons ready but Oliver motioned to them to lower their weapons.

"He's knocked out. But I need to plant a tracker on him and we need to search this place for any clue to Felicity's whereabouts."

Roy and Diggle didn't question Oliver. At this point they were just as worried and began searching everything. The place was relatively clean.

Oliver began to walk outside, "Can you guys plant a chip in his phone so we know who he is communicating with? I'm going to put a tracker in the car and then we can go."

Oliver walked outside. All he could think about was how he just wanted Felicity to be safe. He didn't expect this from her but he also knew that there was a lot about this that he didn't know. But still, his stubbornness was making him incapable of understanding the logic behind all of this. He could tell he was a few steps behind everything and he hated that feeling. He planted the tracker in the car but noticed fresh tire tracks leading to the back. He followed them and immediately called Roy and Diggle out back.

"Guys, tell me Felicity got a new car while I was gone."

"Unless she got a new car in the last few days, no she's had the same one. Why?" Dig and Roy were both confused until they got to the back of the house and saw Felicity's car abandoned in the back of the house.

"I'm going to _kill _him!" Oliver tried to hold back a scream.

"No stop Oliver!" Diggle pulled him back "Felicity wouldn't want you to go in there and kill him. She would want you to use the technology and resources we have to find her without killing people in her name. Be rational here Oliver, it's what she would want you to do!"

Oliver stopped in his tracks, turned his head and began to yell, "_You think she would want me to be rational John? Because clearly she has her head on straight right now and she's doing the rational thing? Dig we don't know where she is or what she's doing. We don't know anything! I promised that we'd protect her!_

"We will find her Oliver. But we need to go before this guy wakes up. The faster we get back the sooner we can track his movements and phone calls and we can start from there," Roy tried to reason with him.

Oliver got on his bike and told them he'd meet them back at the foundry.

"I hope we find her soon for her _and _his sake Dig" Roy said before getting in the car.

"I agree" Dig replied with worry in his voice as they began to drive back.

* * *

Oliver drove to his old house. It was still vacant so he walked in without worrying about anyone seeing him.

_Felicity. I told you I loved you for the first time here. I didn't even know I meant it until the words made perfect sense once I said them. I have so much to tell you and explain to you and I don't think I could ever forgive myself if something happened to you. I will do whatever-whatever- it takes to find you. I promise._


End file.
